Rome Film Festival names Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson's voice as Best Actor and Actress

It is that time of year when all of the Oscar hopeful movies begin taking home trophies and we begin compiling our picks for the best movies and performances of the year. While there are still a lot of movies that haven't even hit theaters for general audiences, the majority of them have premiered at film festivals and in limited release. With Cannes, Sundance, and Toronto under our belt, the latest round of festivals will start to build Oscar buzz for a number of projects.

Two actors who have been named quite often as top contenders this season are Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson for very different performances. McConaughey's dramatic weight loss for DALLAS BUYERS' CLUB has been getting a lot of critical acclaim despite the movie itself not living up to quite that same standard. Johansson on the other hand performs in voice only in Spike Jonze's HER. A voice only role has never won an acting trophy at the Oscars.

That being said, both actors just won for their performances at the Rome Film Festival. While this particular festival doesn't preclude anything in the Oscar race itself, this does represent one of the first gauntlets to be thrown this season. The other big award to take note of is Scott Cooper's OUT OF THE FURNACE winning the award for best First/Second Film. That movie has been getting a lot of buzz but not necessarily of the awards variety. Here's hoping Cooper's film can follow the same path as CRAZY HEART and make it in the nominations as a dark horse.

Stay tuned as the films that will be in contention slowly come into focus.